Our National President of the NLAPW, Virginia Franklin Campbell, did a fantastic job organizing such a special and unique event. The musicians, speakers, writers, and artists were of the highest caliber.

Personally, it was a blessing to see women whom I’ve haven’t seen for years. It was so good to reconnect with them again!

My teenage children accompanied me, which was wonderful. It inspired them to continue to write and to create.

All in all, I am so glad I didn’t miss this special, once in a lifetime event.

My hopes are that you can come to our NLAPW Biennial next April in Iowa. (Yes, Iowa) I plan on going and playing Jazz with my saxophonist friend/Pen Woman, Judy Bingman, from the Santa Clara, CA Branch.

My other hope is that you will keep creating and growing in the arts, and contribute your talents and skills to our organization as we reach out to our communities.

A video performance of “A Perfect Day”
by Carrie Jacobs Bond (Music)
Composer and Lyricist
will be shown.

The rise of Pen Women, 1897

The first meeting of The League of American Pen Women was organized by Marian Longfellow O’Donoghue (yes, Henry’s niece), who wrote for newspapers in Washington D.C. and Boston. She invited fellow journalists Margaret Sullivan Burke and Anna Sanborn Hamilton to join her in establishing a “progressive press union” for the female writers of Washington.